Childcare costs

There is an additional element of support to help towards a percentage of the costs of registered childcare. This is 85% of childcare costs, capped at £646.35 a month for one child or £1,108.04 for two or more children per month. This is available to all lone parents and couples where both members work, regardless of the number of hours they work. There is no longer a requirement to work at least 16 hours.

Under UC, parents have to pay the full cost of childcare upfront and claim the money back in arrears after producing receipts. This makes it far harder for parents, particularly single parents, to remain in work.

In January 2019, work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd instructed Jobcentres to use the discretionary Flexible Support Fund to help with upfront childcare costs where these prevent a claimant from starting work. They should also be flexible about reimbursing these costs where parents are unable to report their childcare costs immediately. However, the TUC points out that this will not address the fundamental flaw of families having to cover massive upfront childcare costs every month before claiming them back.